Michigan Prison Food Worker Says He Was Fired For Refusing To Serve Rotten Potatoes

KINCHELOE, Mich. (WWJ/AP) - A food worker claims he was fired after refusing to serve rotten potatoes to inmates at a northern Michigan prison.

Steve Pine of Sault Ste. Marie, who has worked for Trinity Services Group at Kinross Correctional Facility since July 2016, told the Detroit Free Press about 100 bags of potatoes were moldy. He said a corrections officer agreed that the potatoes should be thrown out, but a Trinity supervisor disagreed and he was fired Saturday after speaking up about the incident.

"It was the most disgusting thing I've seen in my life," the 48-year-old told the newspaper. "They had about 100 bags of rotten potatoes. You could smell them," he said, adding, "they had black and green mold all over them."

Pine said serving rotten food can lead to the kind of unrest Kinross witnessed last September, when inmates barricaded themselves in their housing areas, smashed windows and fixtures and set fires in an incident that cost the state $900,000.

The Michigan Department of Corrections initially downplayed the incident. However, a report released in the spring shows prison officials referring to the event as a "riot" and admitting to having lost control of the prison for an unspecified amount of time.

MDOC spokesman Chris Gautz said the rotten potatoes did not end up served in this instance. In an email to the Free Press he said that an inspection found about a third of the potatoes needed to be discarded.

"But because the Trinity employee spoke about it in front of the inmates so loudly, the prisoners had concerns," Gautz said, adding that a substitute was served instead.

The Associated Press sent an email Friday seeking comment from Oldsmar, Florida-based Trinity.

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